Thanksgiving dinners bring the Tri-Valley together

TRI-VALLEY -- Local churches, community members and businesses are working together to make sure everyone is welcome and full of good food this Thanksgiving.

The Livermore Community Thanksgiving Dinner and a new community dinner to be held in Dublin are free and open to all. Scores of volunteers have been working for months on plans, and hundreds more will be cooking, baking, serving meals and decorating the halls for the big day.

The dinners are open to anyone who wants to share a meal on Thanksgiving Day.

In Dublin, the meal will be served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Raymond Catholic Church.

A group of Tri-Valley churches, businesses and individuals are hosting the traditional sit-down meal, billed as the first Tri-Valley community outreach Thanksgiving dinner.

Families, seniors and singles are invited to attend.

Volunteers will provide the meal, entertainment and children's activities.

People who wish to contribute money to support the dinner may write checks payable to St. Raymond's with a notation that it is for the Thanksgiving dinner. Checks can be mailed or dropped off at the church, 11555 Shannon Ave., Dublin, 94568.

In Livermore, for the 30th straight year, Randy and Lurline Moore are busy with the annual Livermore Community Thanksgiving Dinner at the Bothwell Center.

The event began with a small group of friends who wanted to provide free Thanksgiving meals to people with nowhere else to go. At the first, organizers served about 250 people, and over the years, it has expanded to provide turkey, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings to about 1,000, including veterans, seniors, families and singles. Meals are also delivered to hundreds more who can't attend.

More than 500 volunteers are expected to assist with the dinner, which runs this year from 1 to 5 p.m. The volunteers will take part in decorating on Thanksgiving morning, and can sign up for jobs as cooks, hospital helpers, escorts and servers.

"Our big thing is we don't turn away help," from volunteers or donations, Moore said. "We're just getting started, so we need just about everything."

For those interested in volunteering, the event's planning committee will hold an informational meeting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Bothwell Center, 2466 Eighth St. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their desserts to the meeting or the following morning. The Moore's are looking for about 50 items to be donated; from turkeys and cranberry sauce to cooking pans. The entire wish list can be found at www.lctd.org.

Monetary donations can also be dropped off at the U.S. Bank at 2125 Second St. in Livermore.

Reporter Denis Cuff also contributed to this story. Contact Jeremy Thomas at 925-847-2184.